Roman
sculpture and architecture became known throughout the civilized world,
from Britain and Gaul (France) in the west, to India in the east. But
just when Roman power was at its height the event happened which, in time,
brought about a complete change in the way in which countless numbers
of people lived and thought. Jesus Christ was born in Palestine and was
crucified only 30 years or so later. After his death his disciples travelled
about the Roman Empire carrying their beliefs with them, and before long,
little groups of Christians were to be found everywhere, along with the
early
Christian art that illustrated their beliefs. For almost three centuries
the Romans tried to suppress the new faith, and the various types of Christian
art it inspired. But at last, in 313, the Emperor Constantine decreed,
in the Edict of Milan, that Christians might worship in their own way.
Amazingly, less than 70 years later, Emperor Theodosius I declared that
Christianity was the empire's sole authorized religion. See also: Christian-Roman
Art.

Christian Sculpture
For Churches

While Christianity was illegal, the vast
majority of all plastic art
had been funereal: notably tomb sculpture,
such as reliefs on sarcophagi. After the Roman Empire became Christian,
churches were needed everywhere. Pagan temples had been simply shrines
built to shelter the statue of the god or goddess. But Christian churches
had to be big enough to shelter a congregation of worshippers. The first
churches in the Roman Empire, therefore, were built in imitation of the
Roman "basilicas", which were long halls used as market or assembly
halls and law courts. At first the new churches had no decorative
art, especially not sculpture. The heathens had made sacrifices before
the statues of their gods and had worshipped them, so the early Christians
thought a statue was a pagan object. But although
they all agreed in hating statues, some did not feel so strongly about
pictures.

Towards the end of the sixth century Pope
Gregory in Rome pointed out that a great many Christians could neither
read nor write, and he felt that mural
paintings on the walls of churches would help them to remember what
they had been taught about Christ and the Christian religion. Ever since
about 400, when Saint Jerome wrote a Latin version of the Bible (the Vulgate
edition), priests had access to a standardized text, which facilitated
the emergence of a wide range of Biblical
art illustrating stories from both the Old and New Testaments.

At first no picture representing God or
Jesus was allowed. The Christians used symbols, or signs, to represent
Christ. One was the monogram which we call the chi-rho, which is made
up of the first two letters of the Greek word for Christ. Another was
a fish, because the Greek word for fish is made up of the first letters
of the phrase "Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour". A hand protruding
from a cloud symbolized God the Father; a dove, the Holy Spirit; a vine,
the Church; a mythical bird called a Phoenix, the Resurrection; and a
peacock, the soul.

Sometimes symbols which the Romans had
used to suggest honour and greatness came in time to be used in Christian
religious art also. Romans, for instance,
had sometimes put a circle, a halo as we call it, behind the heads of
the emperors in pictures and statues. The Christians put such haloes behind
the heads of sacred characters, the Holy Family and saints to suggest
holiness.

Division
of the Christian Roman Empire

In 330, the Emperor Constantine had made
the city of Byzantium, which stood at the extreme south-east corner of
Europe just where Europe and Asia meet, into a second capital for the
vast Roman Empire, and re-named it Constantinople. For a hundred years
or so after that, the Roman Empire had two emperors, one ruling the western
or Latin-speaking half from Rome, and one ruling the eastern or Greek-speaking
half from Constantinople. But as the eastern half flourished and grew
richer, the western half declined under the attacks of the Goths and the
Vandals and other barbarian tribes. Then in 455 Rome itself fell and was
sacked, and there was no longer a Roman emperor ruling in the west.

Byzantine
Art

During the centuries which followed, Constantinople
became the centre of a great empire which we call the Byzantine Empire.
The emperors in Constantinople became very wealthy and powerful indeed.
Everywhere in the Byzantine Empire Christian churches were built and Christian
Byzantine art appeared, albeit executed in an Eastern style. Thus
instead of the walls being painted they were covered with mosaics - pictures
made up of many thousands of tiny pieces of coloured or golden glass,
which shined and glittered with a magnificent, shimmering effect. Typically,
however, while dignified and majestic, the figures depicted in Byzantine
mosaic art tend to be rather stiff. See
also: Ravenna Mosaics
(c.400-600).

Before very long artists represented Christ
himself, in addition to using the symbols. At first they depicted him
as a young, beardless man - much more like the Greek god Apollo than the
figure we are familiar with today - for early Byzantine
art carried on the traditions of Ancient Greece.

The Crucifixion
and Figurative Sculpture

At first Christ was never shown actually
on the Cross. To illustrate the Crucifixion, artists placed a Lamb at
the spot where the two arms of the Cross meet. Then, in the sixth century,
a Council at Constantinople decreed that in representations of the Crucifixion,
Christ should be shown in human shape. Thus in later carved crucifixes,
Jesus was generally represented clothed in a long robe, with a crown on
his head and with both feet together, as though standing erect with arms
outstretched in front of the Cross. We can see an example of a Crucifixion
of this kind on an ancient relief which has survived at Langford in Oxfordshire.
Unfortunately the head is missing.

In Byzantine churches there were never
any statues in the round. Figure sculpture in relief, however, was used
from quite early times on sarcophagi (stone coffins) and on such things
as pulpits. Human figures, like those in mosaics, were represented standing
or sitting quietly in dignified attitudes, and no attempt was made to
produce lifelike portraits of individuals or to show strong emotions.
The figures were symbols.

Although there was no emperor in Rome after
455, Rome still had very great influence. The Bishop of Rome, the Pope,
was accepted by most Christians as being the head of the Church. Gradually
the barbarians who had overrun the western half of the Roman Empire themselves
became Christian, and looked to Rome for guidance in all matters connected
with their religion.

The Use of Images
in Christian Art

The Popes in Rome and the Byzantine emperors
in Constantinople were often on very bad terms with each other. They quarrelled
about many details of Christian belief and ceremonial, and were sometimes
actually at war. One of the things they disagreed about was the question
of images.

Constantinople was in close touch with
eastern peoples, some of whom were not Christian, and their way of thinking
about art, religion and life influenced the people of the Byzantine Empire
in many ways.

Jews, for instance, had always been opposed
to images, and Jewish law forbade the use of them in Jewish
art. Then in the sixth century Mohammed was born in Mecca in Arabia,
and before his followers swept over Syria, Palestine and Egypt, and the
people of these and other countries became followers of Islam. Islamic
art also forbade artists to represent human figures in pictures and
carvings, and focused instead on non-objective
art.

The early Christian dislike of images revived
in the Byzantine Empire, and early in the eighth century the Emperor Leo
III gave orders that all sculpture and all pictures in which figures appeared
were to be removed from Christian churches, and plaster was to be spread
over the mosaics. For over a century this rule was in force in the Byzantine
Empire, and 'iconoclasts' (or image-breakers) smashed many carvings and
destroyed many pictures. Finally the iconoclasts fell from power and the
ban against the use of images was lifted. Mosaics and relief carvings
appeared again.

But by this time, the ninth century, Church
leaders had come to believe that images representing sacred figures or
illustrating stories from the Bible were in themselves holy, and must
be treated with great reverence. Artists must not be allowed to illustrate
such characters and subjects just as they liked. A great Council was held
at a place called Nicaea, at which the leaders of the Church stated quite
firmly that "the composition of the figures is not the invention
of the painters, but is governed by the law and tradition of the Christian
Church."

The Byzantine Church went on to lay down
down strict rules as to how each character or incident in a religious
picture or relief sculpture was to be represented.
Artists were not allowed to think out for themselves the best way of illustrating
a scene, or depicting the character and appearance of a saint or prophet
or other sacred person. As in Egyptian
art, artists had to follow tradition and try to follow the approved
precedents created by earlier artists. They were not encouraged to experiment
for themselves. As a result, while Byzantine artists were often extremely
skilful, and created some magnificent decorations, their figure
painting tends to be stiff and conventional with little variety.

Ivory Carvings

There were still no statues in the round,
but relief stone sculpture was allowed, and some
examples have survived from Byzantine times. We know the work of Byzantine
sculptors best, however, through their exquisite ivory
carving, produced in several different places, such as Constantinople
itself, Alexandria and Antioch. Some relief carvings are in the form of
a diptych or triptych
- that is, two or three-part panels, with religious scenes or figures
carved on one side, hinged together so that they can be closed and fastened
like a book.

Leaves from such diptychs or from the carved
ivory covers of illuminated
manuscripts and other devotional books can be seen in the British
Museum and the Victoria
and Albert Museum in London, and in many other of the world's best
art museums. The figures, like those in the mosaic pictures and stone
reliefs, are tall, straight and dignified. The details, such as the patterns
on the robes, are often beautifully carved. The figures stand, or sit,
as a rule, apart from one another, sometimes separated by columns, and
facing outwards towards the spectator. They seem remote from everyday
life, thoughtful and earnest. Sometimes the name of the saint or religious
character represented is written in beautiful Greek lettering on either
side of the head. Sometimes a head and shoulders only are carved, enclosed
in a circle.

Ivories sometimes commemorate the crowning
in Constantinople of a certain emperor, and Christ is shown blessing the
emperor or placing a crown on his head. The ivory can then, of course,
be dated, as we know the date of the coronation. Unclothed figures never
appear in Byzantine carvings, and the clothes in which such people as
emperors and empresses are dressed are often covered with rich patterns
and jewels.

The eastern Church in Constantinople and
the western Church in Rome continued to disagree about many things and
in 1054 they finally separated altogether. The Pope in Rome remained head
of the Western or Roman Catholic Church; Constantinople continued to be
the centre of the Eastern or Greek Orthodox Church until the city fell
before the Turks in 1453.

Early Christian
Sculpture in the West (c.750-1050)

Medieval
Christian Art in the West developed on the Continent at the court
of King Charlemagne, during the period c.750-900, and at the court of
Emperors Otto I, II, III during the years c.900-1050. In Ireland, it emerged
during the early 7th century, and continued until the late 12th century.
For a detailed survey, see: Medieval Sculpture
(c.300-1000).

Following the Byzantine tradition, Carolingian
art at the court of King Charlemagne revived the art of ivory carving,
typically in panels for illuminated manuscripts - like the front and rear
covers of the Lorsch Gospels, which feature the triumph of Christ
and the Virgin - as well as crozier heads and other small items. In addition,
experts in goldsmithing produced a range
of carved bindings and metal reliefs which became an important element
in the making
of illuminated manuscripts at Aachen, and elsewhere. Examples include
the cover of the Codex Aureus of St. Emmeram (870), the cover of
the Lindau Gospels (c.880), and the Arnulf Ciborium (c.890),
all noted for their relief figures in repousse gold. Another unique
example of the skill of Carolingian goldsmiths is the Golden Altar
(824859), now in the Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio in Milan. Another
masterpiece is the Lothair Crystal (c.855-69, British Museum) (also
known as the Susanna Crystal) is one the largest of a series of some 20
engraved pieces of rock crystal, made in western Germany. It depicts scenes
from the biblical story of Susanna. For more works, see: German
Medieval Art (800-1250).

In addition, monumental sculpture - including
large-scale bronze sculpture - was revived during
the early Medieval period of Carolingian and Ottonian culture, for a variety
of works including freestanding statues in churches.

Ottonian
art continued many of Charlemagne's cultural activities, including
early Christian sculpture: among the finest Ottonian masterpieces are
the Gero Cross or Crucifix (96570, Cologne Cathedral), the
oldest monumental sculpture of the crucified Christ north of the Alps;
and the Golden Madonna of Essen (c.980, Essen Cathedral), the oldest
known sculpture of the Madonna and the earliest surviving free-standing
medieval sculpture north of the Alps. Similar examples of Ottonian early
Christian sculpture include Mathilda of Essen (973, Essen Cathedral),
the Cross of Bernward of Hildesheim (c.1000, Hildesheim Cathedral),
and Gisela of Hungary (Regensberg, 1006, now Munich Residenz).
Sadly very little other large sculpture has survived from the pre-1000
period.

In Ireland, early Christian sculpture is
best represented by Celtic-style High Cross Sculpture created during the
period 750-1150 (mostly in the ninth and tenth centuries). Typically erected
on monastery land, throughout Ireland, these Celtic
High Cross sculptures fall into two basic groups: crosses decorated
with abstract patterns based on Celtic designs, and crosses carved with
narrative scenes from the Bible. Whatever their purpose (which remains
obscure), they constitute arguably the most important body of freestanding
Christian sculpture between the fall of Rome and the Italian Renaissance.

The
Great Romanesque Revival of Christian Sculpture

The Christian Church in Rome regained its
confidence during the late 10th century, and initiated a program of church-building
in a style which became known as Romanesque
architecture, and which duly created a huge demand for Christian Romanesque
sculpture - largely reliefs over doorways and column-statues. The
great revival of ecclesiastical sculpture was beginning. See also: Romanesque
art (1000-1200).

 For more about early Christian sculptural
reliefs, statues and ivory carvings, see: Homepage.